Sugar Islander II to return to service

Wednesday

Oct 20, 2010 at 12:01 AMOct 20, 2010 at 8:21 PM

Scott Brand

“Things could have been a lot worse,” said Executive Director Chuck Moser of the Eastern Upper Peninsula Transportation Authority, crediting the captain of the Sugar Islander II for making the best of a bad situation on Monday afternoon.
The crash, which Moser pegged at approximately 12:18 p.m., remains under investigation with some recently installed electronic throttle and gear controls seeming to be the leading culprits.
“They were checking it out,” said Moser of the company which had put in the equipment. “It was sending out a code we couldn’t explain.”
Moser said the captain had the ferry lined up perfectly, “He was square as he should have been,” but the vessel did not slow down.
“These things can happen,” said Moser. “He didn’t do anything wrong — he mitigated it just by being a good operator.”
Moser was unable to estimate the speed of the ferry at the time it crashed into the dock over on the Sugar Island side.
“It caused a pretty good jolt,” he said by way of explanation. “I think eight vehicles were damaged.”
Moser said the Sault Ste. Marie Police Department and Chippewa County Sheriff Deputies responded to the scene in the wake of Monday’s accident. From all accounts, those aboard the Sugar Islander II escaped virtually unscathed with the complaints limited to one individual suffering from a sore back and a second complaining of a sore shoulder.
There were two small fractures well above the water line on the vessel that needed to be re-welded in the wake of the accident.
Additional repairs were also required before the Sugar Islander II could be put back into service — which could come as early as noon today, said Moser early this morning.
The Drummond Islander III arrived roughly eight hours after the Monday mishap. Traffic to and from the mainland was done roughly from the 12:10 p.m. trip on Monday until 8:35 p.m. with a long line awaiting the resumption of services.
Moser said under the best of conditions it takes at least fours hours for the Drummond Islander III to make it way from one end of the St. Marys River to the other and the crew had to battle heavy current and a stiff head wind while making the journey on Monday.